Quote

The pursuit of art is a delicate balance between influence and self-assertiveness. As self-realized artists, we all have different levels of tolerance for this mystery. Influence is like Scotch it's good to know your personal limit.

Robert Genn

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Robert Genn
Age: 78 †
Born: 1936
Born: May 15
Died: 2014
Died: May 27
Artist
Robert Douglas Genn
Levels
Pursuit
Artist
Realized
Art
Artists
Self
Limits
Assertiveness
Different
Mystery
Scotch
Good
Balance
Delicate
Like
Influence
Limit
Personal
Tolerance

More quotes by Robert Genn

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God may work in light, but we mortals work in pigment.
Robert Genn
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Take your brush here and there like a bee in an alpine meadow. In other words, don't laboriously work on or try to finish off one particular part. Paint promiscuously.
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Don't assume there is only one way. Don't assume that mistakes are a bad thing. Don't think for one minute that everyone agrees with what 'good' is.
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Artists are supposed to be the ones with imagination. A good part of our job description is to get regular people to use theirs.
Robert Genn
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The overly-verbal artist is led by his understanding of things--rather than by direct observation of things as they are.
Robert Genn
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We are trying to evoke and reinforce meanings from the spaces we cover and the times we're given. Short or long this becomes our purpose. What we artists do is important stuff.
Robert Genn
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Previously unseen boo-boos come at you like tattoos on a teenage girl.
Robert Genn
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As we grow older, we realize just how limiting were our earlier conceptions. Art is something else. Art is fluid, transmutable, open-ended, never complete, and never perfect. Art is an event.
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Flowers are an education in a vase.
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Artists... do not need the applause or condemnation of the critics, the ideas of other artists, or the demands of the collectors.
Robert Genn
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Artist, gain knowledge, but know that the greatest guru of all is the guru within.
Robert Genn
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While obsessive behavior may be an antisocial plague to societies and communities at large, it's total moxie when lone practitioners catch it.
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A list of your own making is the most powerful list of all... The good stuff can be 'love at first sight' - in need of study, courting and claiming. And like a love note, it's nice to have things in writing.
Robert Genn
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Dealer goodwill and friendship are keys to thrival.
Robert Genn
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No one is going to hand you an organizational chart. You have to hand it to yourself.
Robert Genn
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It's better to have a small diamond than a large piece of glass.
Robert Genn
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The job of art is to turn time into things.
Robert Genn
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The short-goal habit is key to larger success and is at the root of human greatness. Life is think and do, think and do, think and do. Small steps can be greater than great leaps.
Robert Genn
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Sentimental titles are the last bastion of scoundrels, and can add significant barf to an already barfy work.
Robert Genn
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Abstraction generally involves implication, suggestion and mystery, rather than obvious description.
Robert Genn